All Day Kindergarten

One year before Soph (my oldest) started Kindergarten, I started feeling sad and nervous about sending my precious bundle of innocence out into the big bad world. I spoke to many homeschooling moms, listened to CD's, read books and seriously weighed the option of homeschool. Which, by the way, I still really like for many reasons.

I also had lengthy conversations with friends who had already crossed the bridge of sending kids to school. The majority of my friends do not homeschool, and I was kind of surprised to find out that the majority of my friends don't think homeschool is a good option. I digress.

What really bothered me, however, was the idea of mandatory all-day Kindergarten. I did not begrudge parents who put their kids in all-day Kindergarten, but I was sure that was not an option I would consider. "No, I would rather homeschool my 5-year-old than send them to all-day Kindergarten," I declared. I believe I even went so far as to call mandatory all-day Kindergarten "the Communist way." You know, because in Communist countries the women are all "liberated" to work outside the home, which turns into mandatory, free, government-run pre-schools, starting when kids are 2 or 3-years-old. Pre-school that lasts from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. every day, for all kids, so that the parents are no longer the primary influence in their children's lives. That is the way I viewed mandatory all-day Kindergarten.

In fact, I was not sad about the fact that our move to China meant that Soph would be homeschooled for her Kindergarten year. I really enjoyed having that extra time with her even though my life in China was devoid of any resources, curriculum or social interaction. Somehow we were still able to enroll her in Kindergarten when we came back to Utah in February and she tested into an accelerated program 6-weeks later, so, I guess there really must be something to reading to your kids and playing with them after all.

I must admit, that I am warming up to public school. Soph has absolutely loved it. She is a social butterfly. And, I feel grateful that with all I do have to do (teach her moral values, religion, manners, how to be a hard-worker, how to play nice, good hygiene, etc., etc., etc.) that I don't also have to teach her what a noun is, all the properties of water, and, long division. It's kind of nice to let someone else take care of some things they have to learn in life.

The irony is that, sometime during the last year, I came to the conclusion that E-Man should go to all-day Kindergarten. I know, I know! Who am I? It's partly because he's one of the oldest (November birthday), partly because he's smart and seems to thrive on lots of intellectual stimulation, partly because he needs the extra social interaction (he's very slow to warm to new situations), and, because he gets downright bored when Soph is gone all day. He's always had a sibling close to his own age around, until last year.

I thought long and hard about this decision, and it just feels like the right thing for him.

On the other hand, AiAi is an August birthday. So, in two more years I have to decide whether to send him to school one week after he turns five, or to wait another year and send him one week after he turns six. Most would say, "Wait until he's six." I honestly think that if E-Man had been born in August, I would have probably sent him when he was five. I'm 99% sure I'll wait until AiAi is six. Then, I'll probably ease him into half-day Kindergarten (will he ever be able to sit still for an entire day?). Just another lesson learned on the journey of parenthood -- all kids are different and need different things. Sometimes, even all-day Kindergarten.

It turned out to be easy to get E-Man into all-day. In the past, our school offered two half-day classes and one full-day class ("As it should be!" I would have said). This year they decided to offer two full-day classes and one half-day class. I figured the one half-day class would be bursting at the seams. Guess what? Both all-day classes are full. There are only 14 kids in the half-day. I guess it won't be a problem to switch if I change my mind!